This is something I've been interested in for awhile but having just bought our first ever treadmill (Nordictrack 9700pro for $100 on craigslist), I want to better understand the difference of running inside vs outside. For the sake of discussion lets assume the treadmill paces are accurate (I know they're usually not, but I'm probably going to pick up a Runn sensor anyways). I do almost all of my easy miles at .5 or 1% grade. Incline has been calibrated.
I know there is the phenomenon of running paces feeling much easier on a treadmill, especially with decent cooling, but it seems rather extreme in my case. Today I did about 11.5 miles @ roughly 7:45 pace. This is a normal easy pace for me outside. My running heart rate zone 2 is 146-154bpm. At this pace I could expect a heart rate of ~135bpm outside. Today for 90 minutes I averaged 113bpm, including 1 faster mile where I set the treadmill to 6:40 pace (heart rate only bumped to ~125bpm for that mile). I have had treadmill workouts before where I was supposed to stay in zone 2 and it took me pushing the treadmill to 6:10 pace before I even hit 150bpm.
So I guess my question is how should we take advantage of this? Only do runs that build strength on the treadmill and leave cardio work to outside? Everything on the treadmill but still follow outdoor heart rate zones? Everything on the treadmill but set new heart rate zones? This one wouldn't make a lot of sense because I can still hit nearly my max heart rate of 195 by doing hill sprints on a treadmill so the heart rate:pace ratio must slowly converge at higher efforts.
What can we do to maximize the benefit, specifically for long distance tri, of time spent running?
Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
Deals on Wheels - Results, schedule, videos, sponsors
I know there is the phenomenon of running paces feeling much easier on a treadmill, especially with decent cooling, but it seems rather extreme in my case. Today I did about 11.5 miles @ roughly 7:45 pace. This is a normal easy pace for me outside. My running heart rate zone 2 is 146-154bpm. At this pace I could expect a heart rate of ~135bpm outside. Today for 90 minutes I averaged 113bpm, including 1 faster mile where I set the treadmill to 6:40 pace (heart rate only bumped to ~125bpm for that mile). I have had treadmill workouts before where I was supposed to stay in zone 2 and it took me pushing the treadmill to 6:10 pace before I even hit 150bpm.
So I guess my question is how should we take advantage of this? Only do runs that build strength on the treadmill and leave cardio work to outside? Everything on the treadmill but still follow outdoor heart rate zones? Everything on the treadmill but set new heart rate zones? This one wouldn't make a lot of sense because I can still hit nearly my max heart rate of 195 by doing hill sprints on a treadmill so the heart rate:pace ratio must slowly converge at higher efforts.
What can we do to maximize the benefit, specifically for long distance tri, of time spent running?
Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
Deals on Wheels - Results, schedule, videos, sponsors